Here are 13 things for spinal surgeons to know for September 10, 2015.
Do patients care about spinal implant material? Yes — And here's what they prefer
Spine-health conducted a survey asking patients their preference in implant material — and the results were unexpected. Just more than 60 percent of the patients preferred titanium implants, and nearly 90 percent of patients said they had a preference regarding implant material. The second most-preferred implant material was cadaver bone, followed by plastic.
Mount Sinai becomes Neuro-Spinal Scaffold trial site for spinal cord injury
Mount Sinai is a new clinical site for InVivo Therapeutics' Neuro-Spinal Scaffold trial for patients with spinal cord injury. Arthur Jenkins, MD, associate professor of neurosurgery and orthopedic surgery, performs spinal cord injury research at the Icahn School of Medicine and was named local principal investigator of the trial. The Neuro-Spinal Scaffold is designed for patients with acute spinal cord injury.
Children's Hospital Los Angeles gets $2M to fund brain, spinal cord tumor research
Children's Hospital Los Angeles received a $2 million gift from Jill and Lee Kort to support brain and spinal cord tumor research. The money will go toward research on central nervous system tumors to better understand how they develop. The funds may also be used in the creation of a genetic tumor bank at CHLA.
Robotic guided spine surgery: How much diversion is there from the preop plan?
A new study in Spine examines robot-guided spine surgery and the deviation from the pre-planned procedures. The CT-to-CT fusion was successful for 178 screws, and these screws seemed to be random with no apparent selection bias. The average deviation entry point was 2 mm and no screws required revision surgery for revised placement. Researchers concluded robotic guidance is very accurate.
FDA clears Xtant Medical's cervical plate
Xtant Medical received FDA clearance for the Aranax Cervical Plate, which is an anterior cervical fixation with an enhanced locking mechanism. Using an anterior approach, the system is indicated for patients needing spinal fusion on one to four contiguous levels in the cervical spine. The technology comes from Xtant Medical's wholly-owned subsidiary X-spine Systems.
InVivo enrolls 5th spinal cord injury patient in trial
InVivo Therapeutics enrolled the fifth patient in their investigational Neuro-Spinal Scaffold clinical trial, which looks at the Neuro-Spinal Scaffold implant for patients with acute thoracic spinal cord injury. The patient was enrolled at Keck Hospital at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. InVivo hopes to use the outcomes from this study to achieve the Humanitarian Device Exemption, which reduces the time to approve a new treatment and bring the device to market.
Electrostimulation implant to help idiopathic scoliosis
The Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems in Dresden, Germany, has created an electrostimulation implant to help treat adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. The prototype implant is designed to imitate nerve signals that are affected by idiopathic scoliosis, and instigate counter-contractions that result in symmetrical spine growth. The device is set for more clinical studies.
Stryker closes NC medical equipment plant
Stryker is closing a medical equipment plant in North Charleston, S.C., by the end of next year. The plant's operations are transitioning to Stryker's exiting manufacturing network, but no other information on the transition is officially confirmed.
Trends in the global BMP market: US has 76% of the market
The global bone morphogenetic proteins market is estimated at $612.6 million in 2013 and is expected to reach $587 million by 2022. The market is driven by the technique that helps stimulate bone formation in a process wherein stem cells differentiate osteoblasts, eliminating the need to harvest bone to stimulate fusion. North America, Asia Pacific and Europe are the major countries for BMP use.
Medtronic Q1 revenue soars 12%, Core spine flat
Medtronic reported $7.2 billion worldwide revenue for the quarter, a 12 percent increase including an extra week benefit. Spine revenue grew 7 percent to $763 million in the first quarter. The company's BMP line grew, but core spine was flat globally and declined slightly in the United States. The Interventional spine line declined as well globally.
K2M's PYRENEES cervical plate system receives FDA clearance
K2M received FDA 510(k) clearance to market the PYRENEES Mono Cervical Plate System. It is designed to allow for a single point of fixation per level that aims to improve visualization in-situ. The posterior profile of the plate is designed to reduce plate migration in-situ during screw insertion.
VA Spinal Cord Injury Center sees 83% decrease in mortality with monitoring system
A VA Spinal Cord Injury Center in Waltham, Mass., has experienced positive results with the EarlySense Monitoring System. The system's continuous monitoring has allowed healthcare professionals at the center to detect when patients start showing early signs of deterioration. The center achieved more than a 60 percent decrease in medical response team activations. Code Blue Activations decreased by 50 percent and ICU transfers decreased by 40 percent. Mortality after MRT/Code Activations decreased by 83 percent.
Amedica appoints Dr. Giuseppe Pezzotti to scientific advisory board
Amedica named Giuseppe Pezzotti, PhD, to its scientific advisory board. He will advise the company on the scientific properties and clinical applications of silicon nitride and assist them in further developing its technology.